The Critical Importance of “Segment Thinking” in Content Marketing

Here’s my nominee for the Most Obvious Statement of the Year award: Lots of businesses today create and market “content.”

I know, I know – stop the presses, right? (Or, more accurately, stop the CMSes.) But have you ever really stopped to consider the imagery that the word “content” brings to mind? What do you see? Lots of individual items flying around all over the place, no? We as content marketers interpret content to mean unique projects perhaps based on URLs or headlines, but definitely packaged as individual entities. We even like to say “pieces” of content.

We think of our work as creating a number of individual things. We like metrics and pieces of content and strive to generate more of both. “Prolific” really means “hits publish more than most.” But readers don’t run to their friends going, “Oh, man, you have to read this blog! They have like 1,200 articles on there! Eight posts every day, bro!”

Nope. Readers’ assessment of whether our content is great is an entirely subjective call, perhaps accompanied by a short list of obvious foundational principles for what “quality” means.

So, a great experience to our audiences is based on defining content not as all those swirling pieces but as the consumption itself. If your marketing gets put on hold after you actually win the click and your audience spends time with your content, then how helpful, entertaining, or good is it really?

We like to debate the semantics of distribution and measurement, both of which are crucial. But audiences honestly and genuinely want us to excel in both our creativity and our ability to teach or entertain, neither of which has to do with our abilities to gain more clicks from Google searches.

In the end, the true measure of great content is the same as the true measure of great people: It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

We need to zoom in to start thinking more about the actual content we create. Not the headlines, not the SEO, not the channels – the paragraphs, the pages, the pixels, the “stuff.” As much as we want to debate quality versus quantity, those are simply not mutually exclusive characteristics. As proof, look at the thousands in the working world who always must produce both, whether they’re journalists, agency creatives, or yes, even some content marketers.

So, rather than get stuck at the kids’ table when the adults from more “pure” creative functions start showing up, I for one want to improve my creative skills. And if you do too, I’d encourage you to start with one subtle but powerful element of content production: segments.

What are segments?

Segments are small sections of content that are uniquely and clearly packaged then repeated throughout a single project or across multiple works.

You already know and probably enjoy many different segments every day. A few examples are:

ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays on (and its Friday version, the Not Top 10)

Us Weekly’s “Stars – They’re Just Like Us!”

The Colbert Report’s “Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger” (I’m still mourning the show’s end, so I had to include it.)

Segments manifest in many ways across various content. Templates are segments that have been wire-framed for easy future use. Series are longer segments that can stand alone and run repeatedly on a regular schedule. Call-outs are small but loud segments meant to summarize something or guide the eye to something critical.

Segments also provide several benefits to both the reader and the company behind the content. They’re great for retaining attention since they’re easily identifiable and often repeatable, thus becoming anchor points to follow along within a larger piece or series of content.

Additionally, as a segment repeats and becomes familiar in the minds of readers or customers, your audience may start to eagerly anticipate them, making your content “stickier.” (I don’t know how many times I’ve negotiated with my wife to stay home for five more minutes just to watch the SportsCenter Top 10.)

To a degree, the regularity of some segments can build brand affinity and a sense of community. You’re in on the “joke” of that segment, like all the audience members at The Colbert Report who positively roared whenever he introduced each Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger segment.

Applying segments to our work

I started thinking about the notion of segments when I transitioned from sports journalism into content marketing. I’d secured a role as a digital media strategist at Google, which exposed me to the ways of marketers and advertisers. That was in 2008, but few things have changed: Segments are obvious and commonly deployed in media but underused by marketers. I was so used to the SportsCenter model that it seemed like a no-brainer to incorporate that style into my work. But I’ve learned that thinking isn’t the case across the board.

So, how can we start applying segments in our work? Let’s start by looking at a medium where segments are truly critical parts to its effectiveness as a whole but are still underutilized – podcasting.

Segments in podcasting

Podcasts should be shining examples of segment thinking, but again, they often fall flat.

If we zoom in on many marketer-produced podcasts, you’ll notice a common outline void of any creative segments. Almost every business-produced show runs something like this:

Intro jingle

Hi from the host

Guest interview

Thanks to the guest and sponsors

Bye from the host

Outro jingle

That’s the podcasting best-practice outline. But since the goal is to create media worthy of an audience’s time and/or subscription, then a best practice actually means “doing the same damn thing as everyone else.” That’s a lousy way to build an audience.

Think of it this way: Listening to a podcast is a linear experience. In other words, it’s much harder to skip around or skim and thus requires the listener to consume the content start to finish. To minimize drop-off and get people from the start of an episode to the end, great podcasts often introduce various segments to maintain energy and retain your attention.

And because podcasts are naturally serialized, with most shows launching episodes on a regular schedule, these segments are able to become regular, highly anticipated features of the show, which both retains AND grows the audience.

Mike runs a segment called “Good News/Bad News” that lasts for a few minutes in a given episode. To kick off the segment, he clearly articulates that it is a recurring feature in his shows and introduces it by name. This makes new listeners perk up to learn the “game,” while giving repeat listeners a more exciting and at the same time comfortable experience. They recognize it from a past episode and clearly came back for more. They’re “in on the joke.”

As many of you know, Joe and Robert host a weekly podcast and often end their shows with a segment called “Rants and Raves.” Every week, each of them picks one industry article or example to praise or criticize. And of course, they do so in their Statler and Waldorf of content marketing kinda way. (Joe, Robert – You’re friendlier and much more handsome than the Muppet duo, don’t worry.)

Beyond podcasting, segments can be applied to nearly any medium.

Other great segments

Writing: Zach Lowe (Grantland) – NBA columns

Yes, I’m using an example from media, not marketing. It turns out that when you want to learn about the “insides” of your content, not just the wrapper and the distribution, you can suddenly pull from absolutely every creative discipline and industry niche on the planet, not just other marketers. (And, I mean, have you SEEN some of the stuff others create out there? It’s a big, wide world with much more than lead gen and search rank in it. We can learn a ton from it all.)

Anyway, Zach is the NBA columnist for Grantland, ESPN’s spinoff site run by its most popular writer, Bill Simmons.

Examples of Zach’s great usage of segments include his recurring “10 Things I Like and Don’t Like” conclusion in many of his columns (example here, near the end) and his player-analysis columns that illustrate his points via animated GIFs.

Here’s an article where Zach uses GIFs. You’ll notice that after he introduces each player with a few paragraphs of copy, he embeds one or two GIFs to illustrate the point he’s making about a given player’s skills.

As an NBA fan, these are my absolute favorite parts of his work. They enhance the columns I read end to end, but they’re also great “flagpoles” to seek if I want to skim and stop. Rather than attempting to convey what a player does on the court through text, Lowe shows me. (That may seem like an obvious thing to do, but I know there are times when I use copy when an image or animation would be more powerful. I’d wager you’ve done the same at least once.)

Design: Help Scout – customer acquisition and support guides

Help Scout, makers of customer support software in my home city of Boston, is one of the under-the-radar masters of content marketing. Its lead content creator and strategist is Gregory Ciotti who clearly understands the importance of segment thinking.

As with most of its guides, this is a non-gated piece packaged as a beautiful, single-scroll page. Also like most of the guides, it’s pretty long (though worth the read). However, Gregory and team do a great job inserting small call-out boxes titled “Bottom Line” to summarize each section. Thus, you can read the entire thing and receive a few bigger lessons sitting like neatly wrapped gifts at the end of each chapter. Or, you can simply scroll through the guide, appreciate its beauty, and stop only for these main takeaways.

Video: MOZ – Whiteboard Fridays; Wistia – Non-Sequitur Fridays

As I mentioned briefly, segments come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they’re within single works, but sometimes, when they’re much larger or add enough value by themselves, they can become series.

It might be a familiar example, but it has to be mentioned: Moz’s Whiteboard Fridays, under the always steady, brilliantly bearded Rand Fishkin, has long been the best example of a series produced for content marketing purposes. In two simple words, the name sets your expectation: There will be a whiteboard and it’ll be on Fridays.

Wistia also publishes a great series, though for different reasons and not in video format. A video company, Wistia writes a blog series called Non Sequitur Fridays. As it so awesomely explains:

“This post is part of our Non Sequitur Fridays series, which will feature a different Wistian’s take on a non-Wistia-related topic each week. It’s like our ‘employee of the month’ but less ‘of the month’-y.”

The bulk of Wistia’s content marketing is done through videos that are clever, educational, and above all, heartwarmingly human. Each features at least one member, usually more, of the Wistia team, which has turned its employees into something akin to mini celebrities or characters to its audience. Because of this, and because Wistia cares deeply about company culture, it is able to use Non Sequitur Fridays to offer regular windows into the lives and interests of various team members.

Don’t boil the ocean – segment it

To quote some random guy named Mark Twain: “The secret of making progress is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into smaller manageable tasks, then starting the first one.”

Great content marketers think that way. Great audiences also consume that way. And isn’t it wonderful when those things align?

So, starting now but continuing far into forever, really and seriously think about the stuff you create, and examine it on a deeper level than just the wrapper. We need to stop trying to force dud missiles to fly and instead become better engineers. And if something fails, we should stop slathering more paint on the frame and start examining the actual circuitry.

As Gregory Ciotti recently said, “Less CLICK TO TWEET THIS, more writing sentences that deserve to be tweeted.”

We are all content marketers. And it’s time to dedicate just as much thought to that first word as we do the second.

Want to craft well-done segments in your content marketing or add them to your planning efforts? Check out the 2014 CMW sessions available through our Video on Demand portal and make plans today to attend 2015 CMW.

Cover image courtesy of Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

Author: Jay Acunzo

Jay Acunzo is the VP of platform and content at NextView Ventures, a seed-stage VC firm investing in tech startups. For the firm, he runs the blog the View From Seed and the podcast Traction, among other initiatives dedicated to supporting early-stage entrepreneurship. Jay is also a co-founder of Boston Content, a local community helping over 1,000 content marketers. He's led content at HubSpot (IPO) and Dailybreak Media (acquired) and began as a digital media strategist at Google. Find him @jayacunzo or via SorryForMarketing.com.

I vote we don’t call these segments though — that word is used to mean ‘customer segments’ for things like personalization and targeting.

Content Objects?
Content Modules?

Just a suggestion.

(It also feels like what Joe P is calling Intelligent Content — though that’s another term I’d vote to rename before it’s too late: what’s all other content if not intelligent?)

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/ Joe Pulizzi

I’m open to suggestions Doug on the intelligent content stuff…but hurry up since we have a lot riding on it 😉

http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/our-blog/ Doug Kessler

Probably too late but worth considering — there’s so much confusion in marketing now.

The core concepts of IC seem to me (so far) to be modularity, reusability and multi-channel friendliness (is that right?). And maybe separating the actual content (meaning) from the presentation layer (format). So…

Smart Content

Recombinant Content (ooh. Like that).
Modular Content
Content Atoms

http://sorryformarketing.com Jay Acunzo

Thanks Doug!

I’m probably TOO apathetic about terminology in marketing, so I’m up for calling these pretty much whatever. My ONE requirement is if we start to label the actual creative, we first try to pull from the actual media industry rather than reinvent the wheel. Us marketers tend to do that too much, don’t you think?

This might also hurt us when trying to hire or just interact with excellent candidates from the media world. (In the case of SportsCenter’s shows, for instance, they refer to these things as segments. Same with many podcasts.)

The larger issue is probably that we dub this stuff “content” in the first place — a hollow term that turns what should be awesomely creative things that trigger emotional or intellectual reactions into box-like commodities to be churned out. But that’s not worth backpedalling on now.

(Re: Intelligent Content, I swear, I just assumed this was about dynamically updating web pages based on info about the visitor. Is it not? I’m still lost. Am I not “intelligent” enough? 😉 Shutting up now…)

http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/our-blog/ Doug Kessler

Yeah, I take your point(s).

I forgot that TV and radio calls these ‘segments’ and can see the value of keeping that.

But as we move the idea into the marketing context, it would be good to give it a name that doesn’t clash with an existing concept. Chunks?

http://sorryformarketing.com Jay Acunzo

Maybe! Though that kinda sounds oddly biological, like we had too much bourbon last night. In the end, if we bring more attention to the actual “meat” of our work — the paragraphs, etc. — that’s all that matters to me!

http://www.imaginepub.com/our-thinking Alex Braun

Hate to use two words, but does “recurring features” make sense?

I agree that “segments” already has such an entrenched meaning in marketing. This is such a great post, and I almost didn’t read it because I’ve heard enough about segments.

andjdavies

We go for ‘chunks’ when it comes to content. Chunking, chunked, etc. Suitably brutish. 😉

As for ‘intelligent’, I’m not sure a rebranding is imminent but isn’t the less disparaging term ‘structured content’?

heyrobertdavis

Depending on the client we’ve used “chunks,” “objects” and “modules” at various times – but definitely not segments! Whatever the language, chunking is a core concept for getting the most relevant value from your content creation investment.

rogercparker

Jay:
Very engaging and valuable article and examples. You use of the term “anchor points” is masterful. It instantly clarifies and reframes.

My favorite example has been David Letterman’s Top 10 Countdown. What’s interesting about it is that the quality of the Countdown points is secondary to the consistency of the Countdown’s appearance. Like you said, “the regularity of the segments” or, even better, the “insider’s joke.”

Great piece.
Roger

http://sorryformarketing.com Jay Acunzo

Roger, many thanks for the kind words! (And to @doug_kessler:disqus’s question, maybe “anchor points” is the best phrase from my article to use vs. segments, given the discussion below).

http://www.contentchampion.com/ Loz James

Hi Jay

Interesting and informative piece – thanks for sharing.

My own podcast has become more successful since I started using segments in the show much as you describe.

Although the content within those individual segments changes every time, they hang together well as an overall unit to give the show a consistent structure that my listeners seem to like.

I think human brains like to put things into boxes, which is why segmenting as you describe works so well. There’s a whole other line about segmenting for storylines and stories/screenplays here too

Cheers!

Loz

http://www.assignmentmountain.com/ John Unger

It might be one of the best articles I’ve read on this topic.
It hurts me to see how people are now underestimating content and everything what connect with it. I always double check what I write and for whom at my blog at writing service Assignment Mountain

http://sorryformarketing.com Jay Acunzo

Thanks for that John

http://howtowriteeverything.com/ Marcia Riefer Johnston

Statler and Waldorf—love it. I never knew the names of those crusty old Muppets.

Yeah, “segment” is a tricky term in this conversation. “Segment” kinda works … and kinda doesn’t. As Doug Kessler points out, when TV and radio say “segment,” they’re talking about subsets of content. When marketing folks say “segment,” they’re talking about subsets of consumers. Now that marketing folks ARE media folks, we have a clash of vocabularies.

I like Alex Braun’s suggestion: “recurring features.”

Whatever we call it, the idea of creating repeatable, predictable structures makes sense. The popular Dummies books come to mind as another example, with their modular (standalone) sections that you can count on finding throughout the series, like their cheat sheets and their “Part of Tens” at the end of every book.

As for the term “intelligent content,” however challenging it may be to get our heads around, I think it’s too well established to abandon it. The Intelligent Content Conference is in its seventh year, and the community of practitioners in that field have adopted a widely quoted definition of what makes content intelligent. That definition is what a friend of mine would call chewy—there’s a lot to it. But that’s the nature of intelligent content. There IS a lot to it.

Hmm, it could be me, but that definition is still pretty dense and confusing. What IS it? Is it technology? Is it an approach? Is it a collection of reusable assets (such as those assets I describe in the Help Scout example above?) Is it like content strategy, which is the tagging system and “back end” of your content on your website?

Great Post,
I have been looking for a way to describe the importance of segmentation in content marketing to my team and I see no better way then having them read this beautifully structured article.

Thanks for always writing what we all think !

https://www.vkonnect.com Arnold Barclay

Nice stuff Jay Acunzo. I have a one question for you. Is content marketing is related to social media marketing, How we can do this? Can we use social media management tool for this like Hootsuite or vKonnect etc.

Kayle Ford

It could be one of the best articles I’ve read on this subject.
It hurts to see the contents of how people are now underestimating and everything connected with itst louis e-commerce websites

Sergey Yatsenko

The Critical Importance of “Segment Thinking” in Content Marketing . – /S.Y A Rational Mindset is Result of the Positive Critical Thinking.

http://www.technoinfonet.com/ Michael Smith

To segment the content is a really amazing thing. I think you can know at least what is working and what is not.